WORKERS are missing out on hundreds of pounds due to a Tory “con trick” over minimum wage levels, according to the SNP.
The party have accused the UK Government of depriving some households of income, during a particularly challenging year, over their refusal to pay the Real Living Wage.
The Real Living Wage, which is independently calculated, is paid voluntarily by businesses and calculated on the costs of everyday needs, such as the weekly shop.
It differs from the statutory National Living Wage for over 23s – which was known as the minimum wage until 2016, though that name has been retained for the statutory wage for people under the age of 23.
The UK Government’s National Living Wage is set at £10.42 across the UK.
It lags behind the Real Living Wage of £10.90 an hour outside of London, which was increased in October to £12 with a deadline of May next year for compliant employers. For those living in London, it further rises to £13.15.
The SNP says this means a worker on 40 hours a week earning the National Living Wage earns £77 less a month than if they were paid the Real Living Wage – adding up to £1365 this year.
David Linden MP (below), the SNP’s social justice spokesperson, said the UK Government’s rebranding of the National Minimum Wage to the National Living Wage was a "con trick" that has entrenched poverty across the country.
He said: “This past year has been a particularly challenging one, with rising costs affecting everything from energy bills to mortgages, grocery inflation, and now, gifts and the price of a Christmas meal.
“A Real Living Wage would’ve gone a long way to ensuring folk have more money in their pockets this winter.
“Instead, the Tories’ National Living Wage con trick has deprived workers of well-deserved, liveable pay for years, and has cost someone who works 40 hours a week £1365 this year.
“Rebranding the minimum wage to sound like a Real Living Wage doesn’t make it so.”
He added: “The Tories have always had it in their power to legislate to ensure workers are paid what they are due - instead they’ve short-changed them and levelled countless attacks on their abilities to organise and strike for better conditions.
“Westminster is not an institution that takes workers’ pay or conditions seriously. In contrast, Scotland under the SNP has made significant strides to ensure workers are paid the Real Living Wage, and with the full powers of independence, we can make sure everyone is, and enshrine worker’s rights in a written constitution.”
